Cruising (Boating) - Not Lighting

Do any of you eastern seaboard types know about the Intercoastal Waterway - specifically how it joins up with the Hudson River leading up to Albany NY? I have been searching online (google, earth google, etc) for charts and information and find very little about the ICW in NY and NJ area.

I have the canals leading from Lake Ontario to Albany figured out, and the River from Albany to NYC seems pretty clear, but after that I get lost. I am surprised at how little info I can find online.

This is all part of some ongoing research into a trip from Georgian Bay all the way down to Miami that I would like to do sometime in the next couple of years.

James, that sounds like a blast. I told my wife I want to sail the San Juan islands in northern Washington for about a week in the summer. Fishing off the boat and eating fresh crab and salmon every day. Ahhh, a guy could get used to that.

I know what you mean Tim. I have always been a boating fan. I used to race yachts (R-Class) on Lake Ontario, and I have always loved being on the water, even if it was just in a canoe, kayak, dinghy, or a tin can with a 9.9 on the back.

I have 5 boats now (sort of ashamed to say) and just last year bought a Doral Prestancia Cruiser for as my mid-life 'toy'. I hope to do a 2 week circumnavigation of Ontario's waterways this coming summer. The trip to Miami down the ICW would be more then a little interesting.

Thanks Guys. I will look into the charts on SD card as I have a Garmin 2006C Chartplotter on the cruiser. I was hoping to find some online resources in the mean time to do some advance planning, but it would appear nobody is giving away anything for free these days.

James, you could come down the Hudson River, make a pit stop by NYC, see the statue of liberty and then, before heading out to the ocean, make a quick detour and wind up in my back yard. I'm right off the Raritan River.

I got all of my speed thrills out of my system through my 20's when I rode & raced a Yamaha FJ1200 for a dozen years or so. I have been on a few boats at 95+ mph with a client and a freind (both had big Fountains) and it just sorta freaked me out! I bought the Prestancia in order to 'get away from it all' with my family. Sort of our cottage on the water.

As for the trip down the ICW... it will take some planning, and it is a ways off, but I will keep all possibilities open.

Looks like I am going to buy the Fugawi Marine ENC software, a GPS CF drive, and some navionics charts. Then I can play around with all sorts of routes and upload them to my Garmin chartplotter on board. The Garmin "Blue Chart" system is just too compartmentalized for use on a big trip like that.

is that a 27 fever anthony ? We used to have a 38 lightning that would make you wet your pants litterally with twin 525cid staggered big blocks in it in it. If I recall we could do about 90gph at around 97 mph yes guys... thats 90gallons per hour.

What you got in that thing anthony ?

My current boat is only 20ft but a pretty nice ride. Im not my parents and cant afford 300 an hour for fuel.